The Queen's Black Hand
by Circe King
Summary: This is a kind of sequel to Look Me in the Eye, which you can read separately. Medea Kaine knows exactly two things, one: she can trust Guardsman Merric with anything, and two: the queen's reign is her first responsibility, not matter the cost. RR please!
1. Labyrinth

Medea never really went back to her room. The servant's passageway, or the "Labyrinth" to anyone who had ever actually tried finding their way through it, was where she spent most of her nights. On stormy nights like these the drafts could get so strong they would knock out the torches, turning the echoing passageways into the shadowy places from nightmares and ghost stories. Needless to say, she was the only one adventuring through the stone maze.

She slipped the rough map out from under her blouse and followed it until she came to an area just above the courtier's quarters. She pressed herself down against the freezing floor and listened through to the people below. Their late-night flight hadn't woken anyone up, and those that had already been up (Lord Fenrick of Greenhill was an insomniac) didn't seem to have noticed.

At last she reached the area above Redern's room and held her breath to hear exactly what he was doing. She heard whispers that slowly wafted up through the wood ceiling but were caught by the stone in between the floors. Medea took a deep breath and ever so carefully lifted the slate of stone and slipped down into the crawlspace above his rooms. The rotting wood took her weight with a loud groan, but a crash of thunder hid the noise. She gingerly bent down again, making sure that she could spring back up if the wood began to fall in. She'd learned her lesson when her ceiling above the servant's quarters collapsed under her weight.

"What do you think? The bitch refused." He growled, a sound that seemed almost comical in his high falsetto. It didn't take much thinking to figure out who he was talking about and what she had refused.

She rolled her eyes as he and his companion, a woman approximately five and half feet tall with north-eastern origin based on her voice, continued with their conversation, which ended in the door to his bedchamber slamming shut. Whether or not she had followed him in didn't matter to Medea in the slightest as she made her way back through the labyrinth.

The maze twisted and turned until she finally found the door near the north tower.

She pressed herself against the wooden door and tapped her fingers quietly against the door, a sound only someone who was listening for it could hear.

The doorknob twisted and the door swung open too fast for her to move out of the way. She tumbled forward into the arms of the one person she had been hoping to see.

"Why, hello Guardsman Merric!" she whispered.


	2. Sworn to Secrecy

Medea's original grin disappeared as she was pressed against Merric's chest with his arms locked around her waist. A deep blush crept up her cheeks as she realized how ragged and dirty she must have looked, with her dirt-streaked tunic and frizzy hair from the damp.

"Um...you can put me down now." She said shakily. He nodded slowly but made no move to let her go. His eyes were huge as they watched her face with what could have been fear, fear for what she couldn't figure out.

"Merric. Put me down."

He set her down slowly and stepped away from her. Medea brushed her hands quickly down her sides to smooth down the fabric and wipe the sweat that had suddenly appeared on her palms.

"I'm worried that Redfern is planning something, it's probably nothing, but there was a woman in his rooms, north-eastern origin, about five and half feet tall. Her physical description matches with four women at court, me included. The others are Gwenethia of Silverfalls, Brigit of Goatrun, and Annamaya of Queensbay. My guess is Gwenethia, Brigit is engaged to Cethere of Sparrowpeek, and if you've ever seen him you'll know she wouldn't be anywhere but his bed. Annamaya spends most of her time in worship, praying for hours a day."

Merric nodded slowly as he processed the information. Medea had begun to notice a pattern with him, he did things rather slowly when he was thinking, which was often.

"I'm sure Gallespy will be willing to keep an eye on Redfern, there's bad blood between their families and there has been for generations. But Gwenethia can't possibly be the one in Redfern's rooms, she's been away from court ever since the cloth over her stomach started getting tight." He cracked a smile.

Medea smiled back. While he may take time to process it all, Merric always knew exactly what to do and when to do it.

They continued with their conversation for hours until she caught sight of the sky outside his window.

"I'm sorry, Merric. I kept you up all night again." She laughed.

"I'm used to it, and you shouldn't be worrying about me. You're the one who has to face a depressed royal."

She glowered at him.

"Sorry. But tell me this, who was he?"

Medea sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, a sure sign of her stress that she tried so hard to hide. "I'm sworn to secrecy. I'm sorry."

She stood to go, but as she passed him she bent so her lips were only a few inches from his ear. "But I can tell you this; he is someone no Alagaesian will accept, conservative or liberal."

Then she opened the hidden door and slipped back into her labyrinth.


	3. How Romantic

**Thanks to everyone that's still reading this, and thanks again to for being my most avid reader, your insights help me immensely in writing this.**

**You guys know the drill, R&R!**

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><p>Medea was able to catch about a half hour of sleep before Matron shook her awake and forced her to get dressed. She guessed Nasuada was likely still asleep, or at least attempting to be, so she changed into a pretty green dress that she wouldn't have to worry about getting dirty since she'd be taking the long way through the corridors instead of crawling through the dirt- and dust-filled passageways.<p>

She ran into several royals on her way up, avoiding most of their looks, all except Lord Cedere, whose hand brushed brushed her hip. She rolled her shoulders back and kept going, trying to fight off the deep red blush that had begun to climb up her neck. Poor Brigit, didn't know what she was walking into.

It took another twenty minutes before she finally reached the staircase that lead to Nasuada's floor, which usually would've been teeming with servants but was only occupied by the queen, who preferred her personal space. All the rooms except for Nasuada's were empty.

Medea stopped just before the door to the queen's rooms and listened for any movement on the other side. All she heard was relaxed breathing, which meant Nasuada had somehow fallen asleep after the night before. But something was...different. Not wrong, or off, but definitely...different.

Medea unlocked the door and twisted the knob only to find that the queen had locked the door on the other side. Which left only one option:

Climbing through the dust and dirt in the Labyrinth all the way to her highness's rooms.

Medea twisted her curly red hair into a tight braid and slid out of her dress, standing in the empty corridor in only her under-breaches, which only fell to her mid-calf, and her white blouse. She dumped the overdress and her shoes inside one of the empty rooms and took off into the Labyrinth.

Dirt clung to her clothes and the damp air had turned hot and musty as the sun beat down on Uru-baen. She stubbed her toes on the stone floor.

Finally, after nearly ten minutes of winding around the floor she found the door to Nasuada's rooms, the one just outside the sitting room.

Medea pushed at it, but this passage hadn't been used in decades and the wood had swelled in the hot, moist air and it didn't budge. She pressed her shoulder against the door and dug her feet into the ground to keep her steady, but the door still wouldn't move.

She stepped back several feet and ran full speed at the door and slammed her left shoulder hard into the door. It flew open and she hit her now bruised and likely dislocated shoulder on the ground. Medea cursed colorfully in her native tongue as she tried to breathe through the pain.

Finally she was able to open her eyes, although the pain still shot through her entire body. Nasuada came running from the bedroom in her bare feet and stopped a few feet away.

"You locked the door, I couldn't get thr-" Medea froze and the words lodged in her throat as a dark red blade hung in the air directly between her eyes. Only then did she realize the two bare feet in front of her were too big and pale to be Nasuada, and most definitely male.

"What are you doing in her highness's rooms?" he asked gruffly. Medea stared at the blade that still pointed menacingly at her face.

"I'm the queen's servant, the door was locked from the inside." She hissed through her teeth. Her fingers dug into the plush carpet and her fingers curled as she prepared to strike.

He lifted her chin with the blade and she glared up into his fierce gray eyes. "No maid would be climbing through the passageways in her underclothes. Now tell me who you really are."

Medea smiled darkly. "Murtagh Morzansson. You must have snuck in during the night, how romantic."  
>He glowered down at her and the point dug into her throat, nearly breaking the skin.<p>

"Alright, fine. I am legally obligated as her highness's only servant and confidant to break down the door if I think she is in danger. I am also the only person in this castle that knows about you and her highness."

Then she sprung and slammed him against the wall with enough force to send the sword flying from his hand. She bent in close to his ear and hissed, "I am better known as her Highness's Black Hand."

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><p><strong>R&amp;R if you have any suggestionscomplaints/have specific things you liked about this. And don't worry, there will be more Merric soon!**

_Sic semper tyrannis_

**Circe King**


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